Film Screening: Ten Times Better with Producer Jon Funabiki

CHSA is proud to present this very special screening of Ten Times Better for the first time in San Francisco Chinatown. Join director Jennifer Lin for an in-depth and intimate exploration of her documentary about Chinese American George Lee's unheralded place in ballet and Broadway history as an AAPI dancer.

SYNOPSIS:

George Lee is an 88-year-old blackjack dealer who still works five days a week, a beloved figure in the pit of a downtown Las Vegas casino. None of the card players—and few of his coworkers—know of this humble man’s astonishing background: a child dance prodigy and refugee from Shanghai who became a teenage sensation in the original staging of George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker exactly 70 years ago, performing the “Tea” divertissement. George’s story is uniquely American: an immigrant striving to prove himself as an Asian pioneer in ballet and on Broadway, where he was cast by Gene Kelly for the original production of Flower Drum Song. The film is a tale of talent and perseverance in the face of hardship, and a reminder of the extraordinary stories behind the nameless faces all around us.

Ten Times Better spotlights the life of George Lee, an 88-year-old blackjack dealer in Las Vegas who holds an unheralded place in ballet and Broadway history. As a teenage refugee from Shanghai, he originated the "Tea" dance in George Balanchine's 1954 premiere of The Nutcracker, before Gene Kelly convinced him to join the cast of Flower Drum Song. The film is a tale of talent and perseverance in the face of hardship, and a reminder of the extraordinary stories behind the nameless faces all around us.

ADMISSION includes:

• Screening of the documentary
• Q&A session
• Meet & greet with director Jon Funabiki
• Complimentary dim sum and refreshments

For more information, visit CHSA.org.

Host or Publisher Chinese Historical Society of America